MPA/MPP Degrees for Social Entrepreneurs

The concept of ‘Social Entrepreneurship’ has become popular recently, but it is actually an old phenomenon. There have been many social entrepreneurs in history, even if we haven’t called them so. Many of the social institutions (universal schooling, social safety nets to protect vulnerable and the poor, environmental protection standards, minimum living wage, not-for-profits, and etc), which today we take for granted were introduced, promoted and executed by social entrepreneurs. In general, social entrepreneurship refers to innovative not-for-profit ventures, social purpose business ventures such as community development banks, microfinance institutions and hybrid organizations mixing not-for-profit and for-profit elements such as homeless shelters providing job training, etc.

Ashoka, a leading social entrepreneurship organization that spends $17 million a year for its fellows, defines a social entrepreneur as someone who has a committed vision and inexhaustible determination to create a public value to solve a public problem, to direct public resources from an area of lower productivity to the area of higher productivity and to work to transform their society to be a better place to live and to work. “The scholar comes to rest when he expresses an idea. The professional succeeds when she solves a client’s problem. The manager calls it quits when he has enabled his organization to succeed. Social entrepreneurs go beyond the immediate problem to fundamentally change communities, societies, the world.”(Ashoka, 2006).

Therefore, it is no accident that many people who are referred to or recognized as social entrepreneurs hold MPA/MPP degrees. These graduate degree programs offer a set of analytical, research and management skills and knowledge that enables graduates to identify the underlying causes of the problem, to find out the most effective, integrated and innovative solutions to address societal problems in a sustainable and , equitable manner, to translate solutions into feasible programs, and to lead the group of committed individuals and constituency to the solution of the issue. These skills and knowledge are essential for a social entrepreneur to succeed in his/her social mission and MPA/MPP degrees are designed to equip them with these skills better than any other degree program.

The following table provides distinguishing qualities of a social entrepreneur as defined and presented by Gregory Dees (2001) and how MPA/MPP degrees enhance each of these qualities.

Distinguishing Qualities of a Social Entrepreneur	How an MPA/MPP Degree Enhances Qualities of a Social Entrepreneur?
Adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just a private value)	Identification, production, provision and evaluation of a social value that addresses a public problem in an effective, sustainable and accountable manner is a priority skill that all MPA/MPP graduates are equipped with. In contrast other professional degree programs provide their students with skills that best fit to the creation and sustaining of private value (profit making, acquiring market share, etc) only.
Recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission	All MPA/MPP degree programs equip their graduates with strong quantitative and qualitative research capability and enhance their analytical skills to scan the environment for new opportunities and to identify effective ways of putting these new opportunities in the service of a social mission.
Engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning,	MPA/MPP programs provide their graduates with state-of-the-art analytical and evaluation skills to assess existing strategies/operations, to find out problems that undermine the effective pursuit of a social mission, to learn and adapt from other successful initiatives, to introduce and manage the change in their organization and to innovate new effective methods to achieve the most out of each dollar spent
Acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand, and	MPA/MPP programs provide their graduates with unique skills on partnership building and network management, which enable them to skillfully draw and blend resources from diverse sources to leverage resources of the network and to advance a social mission. MPA/MPP programs also provide their graduates with skills and knowledge in innovative cost-saving and revenue generation techniques.
Exhibiting heightened accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created	No professional degree program other than MPA/MPP programs provides their graduates with in-depth understanding of the concept of accountability, its value for the public sector, methods of accountability, and issues in public, non-profit and private sector accountability schemes. MPA/MPP graduates get to know the "art-of-the-state" accountability techniques and frameworks applied in advanced and developing countries. In contrast to other degree programs, MPA/MPP programs teach accountability as an essential and indispensable ethical and professional principle of effective public service.
Source: Gregory Dees, 2001. The Meaning of ‘Social Entrepreneurship.’	Source: NASPAA. 2006.

Social Entrepreneurs with an MPA / MPP degree

CV Madhukar (India): Winner of the Echoing Green 2005 Social Change-Maker Fellowship. Founder and leader of the Parliamentary Research Service (PRS) in India His organization works to promote good governance in India through supporting a well informed, transparent and participatory legislative process by meeting the great need for analysis and training of legislators. CV has an MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and was most recently a consultant to the World Bank.

Following is the list of some Echoing Green fellows (social entrepreneurs) with an MPA/MPP degree. Learn more about Echoing Green Fellowships.

Name	Organization	Degree
Claudia Horwitz	Horwitz	MPP
Mark Levine	Credit Where Credit is Due	MPP
Annamie Paul	The Canadian Centre for Political Leadership	MPA
Maya Ajmera	Global Fund for Children	MPP
Bethany Robertson	The I Do Foundation	MPP
Cheryl Dorsey	The Family Van (Cheryl Dorsey is currently the president of Echoing Green)	MPP
Joshua Brown	Salish Language Perpetuation Project	MPA
Tal Halstead	Redefining Progress	MPA
Robyn Frandsen	PREP Solutions: The Post-Prison Employment Project	MPA
Liza Chambers	Soliya	MPP
Paul Van DeCarr	Telling The Story	MPA
Andrea Silbert	Casa de Passaje	MPA
Randy Parraz	Transformative Action Institute	MPA
Source: Echoing Green. 2006.

Some Notable Present Day Social Entrepreneurs

Dr.Verghese Kurien (India) - Founder of the AMUL Dairy Project which has revolutionized the dairy industry through the production chain of milk, small producers, consumer products and health benefits
Bill Drayton (U.S) - Founded Ashoka, Youth Venture, and Get America Working!
Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh) - Founder of microcredit and the Grameen Bank
Marian Wright Edelman (U.S.) - Founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) and advocate for disadvantaged Americans and children (Source: Ashoka web site)